1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for installing a semiconductor substrate processing tool at a semiconductor substrate fabrication facility. More specifically, the invention relates to a semiconductor substrate processing tool adapter.
2. Description of the Background Art
Integrated circuits have evolved into complex devices that include millions of transistors, capacitors and resistors on a single chip. The evolution of chip designs continually requires faster circuitry and greater circuit density. As the demand for integrated circuits continue to rise, chip manufactures have demanded semiconductor process tooling having increased wafer throughput and greater product yield. To meet this increase in throughput, tooling is being developed to process wider diameter wafers, for example, wafers having diameters of 300 millimeters (mm).
The chip manufactures order semiconductor wafer-processing tools from semiconductor processing tool manufacturers, such as Applied Materials, Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif. Prior to delivery of the semiconductor wafer processing tool, the chip manufacturer prepares the facility to receive and install the tool. Preparations include establishing placement of where the tool is to be located in a room, and providing the necessary facilities conduits (xe2x80x9crough plumbingxe2x80x9d) to carry electricity, process and exhaust gases, and fluids between the facilities and the processing tool. A footprint of the tool is provided to the chip manufacturer for laying out the facilities conduits. Once the rough plumbing of the facilities conduits have been installed, they extend through the floor for subsequent connection to the processing tool.
However, it has been observed that upon delivery of the processing tool to the chip manufacturer""s facility, the facilities conduits often obstruct the final positioning of the processing tool. As such, positioning the processing tool is cumbersome and the facilities conduits are subject to being damaged. Furthermore, additional time is required to complete the facilities conduits connections to the wafer-processing tool once the wafer-processing tool is positioned. This is particularly evident for coupling gas lines, which are hard line facilities conduits that do not flex.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus that allows a chip manufacturer to run the necessary facilities conduits to the wafer-processing tool without interfering with positioning and installing the processing tool. Moreover, it would be desirable for such an apparatus to minimize the installation time to couple the facilities conduits to the processing tool. Furthermore, it would be desirable to allow access to provide ease of installation and serviceability.
The disadvantages associated with the prior art are overcome by the present invention of an apparatus and method for installing a plurality of facilities conduits in a wafer fabrication facility for subsequent coupling to a wafer-processing tool. The apparatus comprises a facilities integration plate and a gauge fixture removably inserted within the facilities integration plate.
The method comprises the steps of determining a location where the wafer-processing tool is positioned in the wafer fabrication facility, forming a cutout in a floor of the fabrication facility, and providing the plurality of facilities conduits through the cutout in the floor. The facilities integration plate is mounted within the cutout in the floor, and the gauge fixture is disposed within the facilities integration plate. The facilities conduits are sized to a length defined by the gauge fixture and the wafer-processing tool is coupled to the plurality of facilities conduits.